Drupalhttps://travelswithmyblog.com/rss.xml
enKarl's what? https://travelswithmyblog.com/content/karls-what
<span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Karl's what? </span>
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://travelswithmyblog.com/users/lavieenrose" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">lavieenrose</span></span>
<span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">11 April, 2016 - 09:41</span>
<section class="field field--name-comment-node-blog field--type-comment field--label-hidden comment-wrapper"></section><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Karlsruhe used to be one of the most beautiful cities of Germany before the war. Its name is connected to its history. It actually means Karl’s repose and according to legend, it was given to the new city after a hunting trip when Margrave Charles III William of Baden-Durlach woke from a dream in which he dreamt of founding his new city. A variation of this story claims that he built the new palace in order to find peace from his wife. The above is information I found in Wikipedia but many years ago, as I was translating my beloved Thomas Hardy’s A Laodicean from English into Greek, I had stumbled upon a description of Karlsruhe and had learnt what its name meant. Back then my knowledge of the German language was inexistent, so I wouldn’t know what Ruhe meant if Thomas Hardy hadn’t explained it. Similarly, I wouldn’t know what Fächer meant. «The city was planned with the palace tower (Schloss) at the center and 32 streets radiating out from it like the spokes of a wheel, or the ribs of a folding fan, so that one nickname for Karlsruhe in German is the "fan city" (Fächerstadt).» (Wikipedia)<br />
Of course the Palace and a large part of the city has been heavily bombed so what we see today is actually restored. The ribs of the folding fan are still there and the Schloss which now houses a museum. The gardens of the Palace are beautiful and a small train runs through them on holidays during the spring and the summer months.<br />
Karlsruhe seemed indifferent to me (and most probably to Thomas Hardy if we judge by his description in his book) the first three times I visited it but I am slowly warming up to it. The fact that the city has a very interesting Art museum, many art galleries, a museum of Natural History, some good theatres and a famous technical University, as well as many cafes and restaurants, render it lively and pleasant. Nearby, the town of Bruchsal is home to another big Palace and the town of Ettlingen is an attractive place. France is not very far if you want to visit another country, so Karlsruhe has an international air somehow. There are many shops downtown as well as some busy shopping centres. Something that will disappoint a tourist visiting Karlsruhe are the street works in progress everywhere, which have to do with the transport network. These works are lasting a bit long (a good number of years) and aim at securing more space for pedestrians in the future.<br />
But let us get back to Thomas Hardy and his description of Karlsruhe:<br />
«To Carlsruhe they went next day, after a night of soft rain<br />
which brought up a warm steam from the Schwarzwald valleys,<br />
and caused the young tufts and grasses to swell visibly in a<br />
few hours. After the Baden slopes the flat thoroughfares of<br />
'Charles's Rest' seemed somewhat uninteresting, though a busy<br />
fair which was proceeding in the streets created a quaint and<br />
unexpected liveliness».<br />
Exactly. Somewhat uninteresting at first but with an unexpected liveliness at second sight. Yes, Karlsruhe is getting better and better every time you see it. </p>
<p>Originally published here: <a href="https://leipglo.com/2016/04/11/karls-what/">https://leipglo.com/2016/04/11/karls-what/</a></p>
</div>
Mon, 11 Apr 2016 06:41:06 +0000lavieenrose377 at https://travelswithmyblog.comhttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/karls-what#commentsTourist in Leipzig https://travelswithmyblog.com/content/tourist-leipzig
<span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Tourist in Leipzig </span>
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://travelswithmyblog.com/users/lavieenrose" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">lavieenrose</span></span>
<span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">17 February, 2016 - 14:07</span>
<section class="field field--name-comment-node-blog field--type-comment field--label-hidden comment-wrapper"></section><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When did the word «tourist» stop being politically correct and was replaced by the word «traveler»? I don’t remember but I am still using it mostly to describe myself during my everyday life. I am always a tourist, whether I go on a trip abroad or when I am walking in old familiar places of my childhood. A tourist for me is a carefree individual having fun and absorbing everything he or she sees, whereas the traveler takes himself or herself very seriously, as if they are doing a job. In reality I know that tourists stopped being in fashion when organized travelling became the norm and you could see crowds invading different sites all over the world. Travelers tend to be more deeply interested in this form of pleasure, following less busy paths and roads, always making new experiences and discoveries.</p>
<p>Anyway, I can still call myself a tourist and be proud of it.</p>
<p>Recently, together with some friends, I did a lot of tourism in Leipzig and visited for the first time the Völkerschlachtdenkmal from the inside. I had seen in the past from outside this strange dark monument which most people hate because of its pharaonic gloomy appearance and the fact that it was meant to be a symbol of power for the Kaiser. Alas, I beg to differ here, too. I like it because it’s so unusual, I mean I have never seen anything like that before. And mostly from the inside. It could actually be an Egyptian pyramid or a pagoda in the Far East, but it is a monument to the Battle of the Nations and the defeat of Napoleon at Leipzig in 1813. The enormous grieving statues, the great view, the darkness inside, create a strange atmosphere, and you can’t exactly describe your feelings in regard to this thing.</p>
<p>During my days of tourism in Leipzig, I also visited Mendelssohn’s house. The famous composer lived here for the biggest part of his rather short life and died here. We owe Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, (as was his full name), not only many beautiful musical pieces but the fact that he re-discovered Bach in the 19th century and through a lot of research had him re-established as the great figure he is today.</p>
<p>German museums never cease to impress me and the House of Mendelssohn is no exception. Upstairs one can see the original rooms where he lived with his wife and worked on his compositions. There are also a few of his landscape paintings from various trips to European countries to be seen here.</p>
<p>Downstairs you can admire modern technology and multimedia, always in relation to Mendelssohn’s work. You can also conduct an orchestra playing his music! </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://leipglo.com/2016/02/17/myleipzig-becoming-a-tourist-at-home/">http://leipglo.com/2016/02/17/myleipzig-becoming-a-tourist-at-home/</a></p>
</div>
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 12:07:09 +0000lavieenrose376 at https://travelswithmyblog.comhttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/tourist-leipzig#commentsThe house of Dürerhttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/house-d%C3%BCrer
<span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The house of Dürer</span>
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://travelswithmyblog.com/users/lavieenrose" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">lavieenrose</span></span>
<span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">3 February, 2016 - 12:05</span>
<section class="field field--name-comment-node-blog field--type-comment field--label-hidden comment-wrapper"></section><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Albrecht Dürer’s house in Nürnberg is situated uphill inside the old town, near its fortification. Today it is a museum in which no authentic work of the artist can be seen, just copies of his most famous paintings, his wood prints, copper prints and other creations. Still it is worth a visit since the atmosphere of the building, which was only partly destroyed during WWII, resonates with the time when the artist was living here. Thus visitors can learn a lot about his life and his work.</p>
<p>We know Dürer mostly through his self-portraits; he was ahead of his time, the 16th century. Trying to advertise his work to some noble patron-to-be, he painted himself not only in the three quarters pose but also en face, looking directly towards the viewer. No one before him had dared to do something like that but it seems that the result wasn’t the one Dürer had wished for. Lovers of art were scared by these two eyes gazing seriously and intensely ahead, giving an impression of indiscretion or emanating something daemonic. </p>
<p>His most famous portrait is still somewhat of a riddle for those studying his work, as they can’t be sure whether he wanted to depict himself as Jesus Christ or simply stress the role of the artist as a maker.</p>
<p>In the museum one learns that Dürer may have been a little vain (there are so many paintings of himself, a handsome man in elegant clothes and unruly long hair) but that he was also a great scientist, mathematician, and theoretic of Art. He had written a number of treatises on geometry and the dimensions of the human body. Among his most famous works are a diptych of Adam and Eve as well as of The Four Apostles. </p>
<p> «Praying hands», the pictures of a hare, a horse, a rhinoceros as well as many religious art works and portraits of his contemporaries, are familiar to us all and can be seen in many big museums all over the world..</p>
<p>Dürer was married to Agnes and lived in this large house with her and with his mother, Barbara, whom we can see in various portraits her son had made of her. It is obvious that they looked alike, at least in external appearance. Towards the end of his life, Dürer was ill and needed to have a toilet in the house. The city authorities allowed him to install one although this was forbidden to other citizens who weren’t as successful, rich and famous as he was.</p>
<p>Children who visit the museum can be guided through its rooms by an actress playing the wife of Dürer. They can also make their own prints, copies of Dürer’s works at the very spot where it is believed that the artist’s studio had been.</p>
<p>Both children and adults visiting the museum will surely enjoy learning about Dürer and his era through various interactive methods. </p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://leipglo.com/2016/02/03/travel-arts-the-house-of-durer/">http://leipglo.com/2016/02/03/travel-arts-the-house-of-durer/</a></p>
</div>
Wed, 03 Feb 2016 10:05:31 +0000lavieenrose375 at https://travelswithmyblog.comhttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/house-d%C3%BCrer#commentsAn island without sea https://travelswithmyblog.com/content/island-without-sea
<span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">An island without sea </span>
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://travelswithmyblog.com/users/lavieenrose" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">lavieenrose</span></span>
<span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">3 January, 2016 - 12:07</span>
<section class="field field--name-comment-node-blog field--type-comment field--label-hidden comment-wrapper"></section><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Not because I’m a hundred years old but for other reasons which won’t be of interest to the reader (fortunately not health reasons), I happen to have visited many spas in Germany, both well known and lesser known ones. Baden Baden, Bad Mergentheim, Bad Kissingen, Bad Bocklet, Bad Ems, Bad Brückenau, Bad Nauheim, Bad Kreuznach as well as many others with the prefix Bad, meaning bath, and I’m not sure which is the most beautiful. They are all so neat, lovely, clean, tidy, with elegant old or modern buildings, many flowers and fountains in the parks, a lot of benches where old people can rest, with swimming-pools and springs where thermal water comes full of iron, sulphur and many more metallic elements. And beside all this, one can find a palace or a medieval castle, a friendly café where one can have a sweet or a restaurant for a schnitzel with fries and a beer. “Gemütlich”, as the Germans call it, it’s like the american word “cozy“: all that is warming body and soul, all that offers calmness, relaxation, familiarity, a pleasant environment in other words.<br />
Bad Kissingen must be the flagship of the German spas. A Mykonos for the old, a Mallorca in Germany, an island without sea. With so many tourists coming and going, it gives me the impression of a Greek island, even though it’s a completely different landscape. This impression is underlined by a beach bar playing loud music, surrounded by chaises longues and sun umbrellas on the bank of the Saale, the river running through the city. It’s an artificial beach which resounds of an island. On top of that, the whole vacation atmosphere and the fact that all these people are here for holidays, remind me more and more of the islands in my country, Greece. Anyway, people usually tend to look for similarities and parallels with familiar things, that’s why for me holidays equals islands.<br />
I haven’t yet been to the Greek spa town of Aidepsos but I can picture it like Bad Kissingen. A gold mine for hotel owners and other business people, with bad quality restaurants –of course there are exceptions where one can eat well- because it is a well-known fact that senior citizens aren’t very selective, they eat big quantities but the quality isn’t a priority. Everything seems good to them, as long as they can fill their stomach and have company during their meals.<br />
One observes the elderly here in Bad Kissingen, and there remains no room for imagination in regard to one’s future. If you are so lucky as to live after seventy, it’s possible that one of your limbs will suffer one way or another. Rheumatism, arthritis, you will shrink and bend, and become hunchback, your feet will swell, your fingers will become deformed, you’ll start limping or your damned scoliosis will start showing, the one with which you were diagnosed as a child but you didn’t listen to the orthopedic doctor when he told you to do some exercises in order to beat it.<br />
But even if you get through it all without a scar, Alzheimer’s or any other form of dementia is lurking, in order to make you look or feel lost in space, opinionated like a toddler, happy-silly.<br />
You can make a fool of yourself in other ways, too: by peeing in your bed, by making advances to your nurse or to your women relatives when they come to visit. And if all of the above isn’t enough, there is cataract, hearing loss, a stroke, or a heart attack, Parkinson’s disease and so many more as you can’t imagine.<br />
By looking at these white haired heads your own life passes in front of your eyes like a film. You can watch your last years on earth. And if this is a bit sad, you may wonder as you look at the white haired heads what their own lives have been like. Still, appearances can be deceiving. As a child, I used to observe my grandfather, a rather difficult old man, halved by a stroke that had paralysed his one leg and one arm, an old man who couldn’t go anywhere without his walking stick. It was impossible for me to imagine how much he had seen, how many things he had done in his life. Adventures of all sorts.<br />
And when one looked at my father, during his last days, with his look so empty, with his eyes so lost because of the dementia, one would be unable to believe that this man who held his newspaper upside down pretending to read it, had really read during his lifetime entire encyclopaedias and countless volumes of literature, history, mathematics etc. One would be unable to believe that this man used to be the soul of the party, always shining not only thanks to his knowledge, but also thanks to his intelligence, his sense of humour, to a charm emanating from his personality and his looks.<br />
He had to pay for some things he used to say in his good days, it seems. Maybe for this “cast a glance to old age, please”, that he repeated jokingly, imitating the words of an old beggar in the centre of Athens.<br />
Some day I, too, will have a rigid, slow body, even if now my spirit is still quick.<br />
Already at 39 I felt for the first time something changing in regard to my body. I had always been a “lapdog”, I had always enjoyed sitting on the couch reading a book, but at 39, I suddenly felt I was getting tired more easily than before. I belong to these lucky people who always look younger, but today, a decade after those first changes, I discern other clear signs of old age, not only grey hair. On my hands the veins form a relief and I prefer not to wear rings as not to underline the trunk-like circles on the skin of the finger knuckles. By the way these were the first signs of old age I noticed on myself.<br />
Better not to talk of the breasts, what a defeat, and as for my once upon a time firm skin, it looks like a knitting pattern thanks to the many folds of the cellulite. The spots on the skin multiply geometrically and my hair is getting thinner every day.<br />
Sometimes I wonder whether my need for so many confessions through writing is not so much related to the era of internet and blogs, but has to do with letting go of my constant secrecy –this letting go is surely another symptom of old age marching towards me. There are, however, old people who resist. Like this lady who was sitting beside me the other day in the eye doctor’s waiting room. She turned to me at a certain point and said angrily: «I have lots of time in my hands. What I don’t have is patience!»<br />
On the other hand, science is progressing and will preserve us humans as ruins or live mummies as long as we have the money to pay. Still, the spectacle won’t be pleasant to the other people and for ourselves to be in this state won’t be extremely pleasant either.<br />
We’ll be merely inhabiting the planet, fighting with all our means to keep our old glory, some traces of our previous beauty or of the sound, clear mind we had when we were young.<br />
Of my bodily or mental skills, one has unfortunately left me, one that made me type fast, like a mad person on my keyboard. Fortunately another one has also left me, this rare desire, to feel risky and drive my small car on a central avenue in Athens or on the seaside road like a F1 champion.<br />
Bad Kissingen is visited by old people who come here for their “Kur”, the thermal cure. Some of them are ill, emaciated, almost dead. Others are healthy, good-looking old people. There are old men on crutches, in wheelchairs, or should I say old women, since women are the majority here. Men are fragile beings and that’s the reason why there aren’t so many of them. This is an old people’s society, getting older everyday as there aren’t enough babies born in Europe. The old ladies look way too old, rusty, all similar to one another, in their trousers and sneakers, with their white hair, not dyed and just ready from the hairdresser’s as it is the habit in Greece. There are here of course some who look more elegant, with their necklaces, their colourful blouses and their simple wrist watches.<br />
The picture scares me and pleases me at the same time. It scares me because I can’t help calculating: in fifteen years I’ll be like this old lady, in twenty years like that old lady, because as I already said I’ve seen the signs on my body and I can recognize them. The picture pleases me on the other hand because what I see in front of me are people who have completed their family or professional circle, and they are getting old with dignity, satisfied by what they have achieved. I can’t tell if some of them are troubled by questions such as these: “Did I do everything I could, did I offer other people all that I could offer, did I, according to the Christian parable, do all the best I could with the talents entrusted to me, was I a good parent?” They look content, however, they look pleased and satisfied. Three times a day, in the morning, in the afternoon and early in the evening, like a medicine, they enjoy old-fashioned classical music concerts sitting on the white benches of the spa town. If it rains they can do the same inside the large hall where they drink the mineral water. The wonderful orchestra is adequately trained to meet the needs of its audience, metaphorically an all-weather orchestra, which isn’t bothered by noises and other interventions. This orchestra isn’t bothered by mobile phones ringing all the time and never answered by their owners who can’t hear them, isn’t bothered by old ladies who remember their youth and wish to dance with trembling feet during the livelier musical pieces. It isn’t bothered by walking sticks falling suddenly with a loud bang on the floor nor by the untimely applause of some foreigners in the audience who are married to German women. In their culture there is no such thing as classical music pieces divided in many parts. The orchestra isn’t bothered by the dry coughing of old men or by anything else. (But I shouldn’t be unfair: the majority of the audience are extremely disciplined persons who treat the concerts with an almost religious respect). In the evening, if the senior citizens don’t go to bed very early, they can gamble at the casino. In the morning they go walking in the woods –most of them have an athletic figure, despite their age- or sightseeing.<br />
Of course there is loneliness here, too. Many people wander alone, having a lot of time to observe passers-by since their sight doesn’t make reading easy for them.<br />
There is loneliness which can’t be covered by the professional company of women from East European countries, who come here to work as nurses. They, too, look all alike. They are stout, with short hair dyed in a reddish colour, they have a plain slavic face which was never pretty, and a body which brings to mind those doped women athletes of the ex-communist regimes. They all, without exception, wear small golden bangle earrings, a trademark of their origin, their only piece of jewelry, maybe the only valuable thing they ever got or they’ll ever get in their lives.<br />
These women make me think. They make me think of the families they left behind (I used to observe them in Greece before the crisis, where they had to take care of difficult old people or of spoilt children), these women who cried everytime they remembered their own children left behind in Georgia, in Ukraine, in Russia, in Bulgaria. These women who had gone through so much, who ate with an incredible appetite everything they were offered in the homes where they worked, as if they had never seen a plate of food before. I hope these women will go to Heaven. Who cares if they aren’t pretty or graceful? They are so patient, full of compassion and faith, they are hard-working and feel solidarity towards their fellow men. They are real angels and I wish my own soul could be compared to a tenth of theirs, so that I could go to Heaven, too.<br />
A sort of Heaven, however, is Bad Kissingen for the elderly. Or at least an antechamber to Heaven, thanks to its beauty and its cleanliness. The Germans love their country and take good care of their tourists, local or foreigners, young or old. And because everything is so well organised, you get the impression that this good and calm result has been effortless. Yet, many people have worked silently, discreetly and with a smile, without panting and puffing, without sweating, or showing off how tired they are.<br />
In 1856 the prolific composer Rossini was a guest of the city, and a plaque on the wall of a building commemorates his visit.<br />
As you walk in the streets, you see some senior citizens who are eccentric and quite different than all the others. For example the couple who think they are in Florida or in Cannes. A couple not reconciled with their age. She is dressed in red, her hair is raven black and the skin on her face covered with many layers of make-up. His clothes are a young man’s clothes and his skin has an orange tone, burnt by the solarium. I feel like crying with pity for them. Another couple are eternal fans of Harley-Davidson, even at this age. Clad entirely in black leather, they have long uncombed hair (the remaining hair, that is) and various chains. I feel like laughing at this spectacle. A while later I spot another couple who push a pram. Their grandchild, I suppose. Then I see a dog inside the pram!<br />
Old men and old women in wheelchairs, accompanied by their children or grandchildren, or by a nurse or helper across the park, others who autonomously ride their modern scooters or their rolling walkers with a shopping basket. There are those with traditional walking sticks and crutches and a happy few, with no support at all, who still walk on their two feet, upright, defying the riddle which the Sphinx put to Oedipus.<br />
One is young as long as one’s spine is flexible, goes the wisdom of India, and it must be so indeed. I’d like to add that one is young as long as one’s spirit is young. If you are so lucky as to combine the two, then you’ll never be old.<br />
Source: <a href="http://leipglo.com/2016/01/03/travel-germany-an-island-without-sea/">http://leipglo.com/2016/01/03/travel-germany-an-island-without-sea/</a></p>
</div>
Sun, 03 Jan 2016 10:07:33 +0000lavieenrose374 at https://travelswithmyblog.comhttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/island-without-sea#commentsLe smanie per il barocco*https://travelswithmyblog.com/content/le-smanie-il-barocco
<span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Le smanie per il barocco*</span>
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://travelswithmyblog.com/users/lavieenrose" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">lavieenrose</span></span>
<span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">16 November, 2015 - 19:01</span>
<section class="field field--name-comment-node-blog field--type-comment field--label-hidden comment-wrapper"></section><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When you come from a country not at all connected with the Baroque period, with its art, its design, its gardens, its music and its architecture, to land in Leipzig and the nearby cities is a great pleasure indeed. You are bound to discover so much beauty and enjoy sites like the Gohliser Schlösschen or the Delitzscher Schloss. The latter is an elegant little palace in the town of Delitzsch, which in modern terms is more of a suburb of Leipzig.</p>
<p>Amidst the autumn leaves, fallen on the ground with their brown, orange, yellow, golden colours, stand the palace gardens with their baroque design of meanders and circles, forever green.</p>
<p>One needs only half an hour for a short visit to the palace rooms with their beautiful wooden floors, the chairs dating back to 1700, and the portraits of noblemen and noblewomen of whom the most famous person is of course Augustus der Starke, the “Strong” man of Saxony who was a Casanova, always ready for love, not war, the man who allegedly helped populate Saxony as he is believed to have fathered more than 300 children with many women.</p>
<p>The Delitzscher Schloss is being renovated and it actually smelt of paint the day I visited it. Each one of its rooms hosted figures from fairy tales, no doubt preparing for Christmas and for some events for children.</p>
<p>I liked the Princess sitting alone in the dining room, looking bored and despaired at the Frog opposite her, or the long braid of Rapunzel hanging outside a window of an upper floor, almost touching the ground outside the palace walls. Sleeping Beauty was there, too, with her Prince coming to wake her up. In another room Rumpelstiltskin was greedily eyeing the Baby in its cradle.</p>
<p>If you have children, maybe now it’s the right time to take them to the Delitzscher Schloss. If you don’t have children but you still like fairy tales, well, you might want to make this excursion, too.</p>
<p>If you, like me, have a soft spot or even a craze for the baroque, then the Delitzscher Schloss won’t let you down. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.barockschloss-delitzsch.de/">http://www.barockschloss-delitzsch.de/</a> and <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Delitzsch">https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Delitzsch</a>.<br />
LS</p>
<p>*Τhe title refers to a trilogy of plays by Goldoni, “Le smanie per la villeggiatura,” meaning literally “A craze for holidays.”</p>
<p>Source:<a href="http://leipglo.com/2015/11/16/myleipzig-going-baroque-crazy-in-a-saxon-palace-or-how-to-find-rapunzel-in-the-neighborhood/">http://leipglo.com/2015/11/16/myleipzig-going-baroque-crazy-in-a-saxon-…</a></p>
</div>
Mon, 16 Nov 2015 17:01:38 +0000lavieenrose373 at https://travelswithmyblog.comhttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/le-smanie-il-barocco#commentsTourist in Genevahttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/tourist-geneva
<span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Tourist in Geneva</span>
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://travelswithmyblog.com/users/lavieenrose" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">lavieenrose</span></span>
<span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">29 October, 2015 - 15:00</span>
<section class="field field--name-comment-node-blog field--type-comment field--label-hidden comment-wrapper"></section><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Geneva is less boring than it had seemed to me 27 years ago, during my first visit. Actually this time it looked pretty interesting, what with its multi culti population, the beautiful Lac Leman and its Jet d’Eau, the numerous Chinese and Russian tourists who were shopping at the most expensive fashion stores. Geneva is really expensive, but this goes for the whole of Switzerland, it has always been a very expensive country. That is why the inhabitants of Geneva prefer the super markets of nearby France where they do their shopping during the week end. I have also noticed that the Swiss are thin and slim, maybe it doesn't only have to do with the fact that they like sports, but also because food is so expensive. Just joking of course...</p>
<p>What did I do in Geneva? I walked a lot in the Old City Centre, visited the Cathedral, the Art and History Museum and the Ariana Museum with its collection of fine china and glass objects. It happened to be an Open Day at the United Nations premises, so I went there, too, and enjoyed some people from Thailand performing their local dances. It was a beautiful day, and the gardens of the UN overlooking the snowy Alps and the lake were fantastic. The nearby Botanical Gardens are also interesting and I am sorry I did not have enough time to visit the Museum of the Red Cross. I had time, however, for an exhibition at the Library of Geneva; its subject was catalogues, all kinds of inventories during the centuries. Its title From Clay to Cloud. </p>
<p>I am grateful to my good friend who invited me to stay with her and went out of her way with a five star superior hospitality. Actually the same friend had invited me to stay with her 27 years ago. I consider myself lucky and blessed to have such friends!</p>
</div>
Thu, 29 Oct 2015 13:00:56 +0000lavieenrose372 at https://travelswithmyblog.comhttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/tourist-geneva#commentsThe blood of the eel https://travelswithmyblog.com/content/blood-eel
<span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The blood of the eel </span>
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://travelswithmyblog.com/users/lavieenrose" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">lavieenrose</span></span>
<span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">16 October, 2015 - 16:25</span>
<section class="field field--name-comment-node-blog field--type-comment field--label-hidden comment-wrapper"></section><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The scene takes place in one of the southern suburbs of Athens, in Greece, at a fish restaurant by the sea. A Greek businessman trying to export his products to China, is hosting a gentleman from this country. He is about to buy him lunch (I guess). Before they start talking business, the Greek tells the Chinese man that he used to have an eel farm. The Chinese reacts with enthusiasm and answers that his fellow countrymen love eating eel and especially the blood of the eel which they consider good for their health. </p>
<p>Although I don’t like to eavesdrop, I can’t help it since they are right behind my back and they speak loudly as well. </p>
<p>Their conversation gives me the idea to write something and express my views on the tasteless era of globalisation which has eradicated the national characteristics of people and have made us all trot the globe like crazy, finding no joy or rest anywhere in the world. Many of my friends and relatives have spent all their lives in an airplane as they are working in companies which suck their blood. </p>
<p>In the beginning all this used to be very good and glamorous. The executives got one promotion after another, they had benefits and money, and got to visit new places which opened their minds as they met other cultures and people. Gradually, one by one started complaining. «There is no time for my family, there is no time for tourism, the hotel rooms are small, lonely and without character, and the flights are countless every month. It is boring to meet every evening some unknown people and go to dinner with them. It is tiring to be obliged to appear polite and friendly». Burnout started manifesting itself, all work and no play led sometimes to break downs and the loss of job. Another thing that accompanied the above were the extramarital affairs as travels helped the creation of relationships between colleagues and the destruction of the family. Big companies had much in common with sects or political parties. In the beginning they would try to lure you in various ways and then you would realize that they just wanted to take advantage of your talents and your hard-working nature. </p>
<p>In the meantime we see our earth becoming tasteless and odourless all over; so many transfers here and there make us all look exactly the same. For example Europe, having received such a big number of emigrants, starts looking like the U.S. Of course I have to state here that I am not a racist and that I love and understand all people from all countries of the world. I have friends in the most faraway places. My objection on the loss of national characteristics through expatriation or marriage has to do with the taste of the diverse. As a child I had taken only very few trips abroad and I was impressed by the smells, the food, the habits of the foreign people.</p>
<p>Today all this is gone. You can find everything everywhere. And everything is tasteless, as if there is a lack of salt. A German friend recounted that once, during a business trip to Japan, he looked forwards to the surprise his Japanese hosts had prepared for him. He was taken to an imitation of a Bavarian pub in Tokyo where the Japanese waiters wore leather shorts and hats with a feather! The surprise was an unpleasant one. </p>
<p>As I was leaving the seaside fish restaurant where the two businessmen were continuing their conversation, I looked at the beautiful Saronic gulf with its rocky islands scattered all over. And I changed my mind. Maybe I am not right after all. Maybe the idea of a globalized world isn’t necessarily negative. Maybe we humans are made in such a way in order to live together. Yes, we are all humans, we are mortals, some of us have been spoilt, some others have suffered a lot.</p>
<p>Yes, we are all humans after all. That is why we drink the blood of the eel, that is why the big corporations drink our blood…</p>
<p>LS, June 2011, originally written in Greek and published here <a href="http://peopleandideas.gr/2011/06/21/burnout/">http://peopleandideas.gr/2011/06/21/burnout/</a></p>
</div>
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:25:38 +0000lavieenrose371 at https://travelswithmyblog.comhttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/blood-eel#commentsThe Panometer in Leipzighttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/panometer-leipzig
<span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The Panometer in Leipzig</span>
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://travelswithmyblog.com/users/lavieenrose" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">lavieenrose</span></span>
<span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">26 September, 2015 - 13:10</span>
<section class="field field--name-comment-node-blog field--type-comment field--label-hidden comment-wrapper"></section><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Enjoying the last days of the summer in Leipzig, or more aptly, the first days of autumn.<br />
When you live in the centre of the city, you can't really feel the change of the seasons. From my window I can't see green leaves turning red or yellow but the sky is overcast and the people are already wearing more clothes. </p>
<p>In the beginning of September I had some visitors and it was a good opportunity for me to become a tourist once more. Together we went to the J.S. Bach Museum of course and to the Round Corner Museum where the Stasi Archives are kept. </p>
<p>I was curious to see what the Panometer was all about and I must say I wasn't disappointed at all. It is the ex-Gasometer of the city which during the last years is serving as a space for the panoramic exhibitions of the artist Yadegar Asisi. It was fantastic to be transported in the year 1813 when Leipzig was the theatre of the battle of the nations. From an observation deck visitors had the possibility to see how Leipzig looked on the aftermath of this great battle between Napoleon and his allies and the rest of Europe. </p>
<p>More here: <a href="http://www.asisi.de">www.asisi.de</a></p>
</div>
Sat, 26 Sep 2015 10:10:25 +0000lavieenrose370 at https://travelswithmyblog.comhttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/panometer-leipzig#commentsBooks https://travelswithmyblog.com/content/books
<span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Books </span>
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://travelswithmyblog.com/users/lavieenrose" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">lavieenrose</span></span>
<span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">25 September, 2015 - 16:09</span>
<section class="field field--name-comment-node-blog field--type-comment field--label-hidden comment-wrapper"></section><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Usually, these lists are made by the end of the year, around Christmas, but I thought I might have a look at what I read so far, from January till September. I am not going to attempt a review or a summary, just a few words about each of them.</p>
<p>1.Kevin Nilon: Living a lie</p>
<p>Autobiography of an Australian and his criticism of the Catholic Church</p>
<p>2.John Green: The fault in our stars</p>
<p>Love story of two young people suffering from cancer</p>
<p>3.Wolfgang Herrndorf: tschick</p>
<p>Two friends in Germany and their strange road trip</p>
<p>4.Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse five</p>
<p>A surreal account of the bombing of Dresden</p>
<p>5.Plato: Apology</p>
<p>Socrates’ speech before his judges who would sentence him to death</p>
<p>6.Jose Saramago: Blindness</p>
<p>An allegory set in a society where suddenly everyone is blind</p>
<p>7.Jakob Hein, Jacinta Nandi: Fish n'Chips und Spreewaldgurken</p>
<p>A citizen of the former People’s Republic of Germany and a woman from the UK describe how they imagined each other’s country</p>
<p>8.Marjane Satrapi: Persepolis</p>
<p>An artistic autobiography of a Persian woman who took refuge in Europe and a short history of Iran</p>
<p>9.Alki Zei: Faber pencil no 2</p>
<p>Childhood years and youth of a Greek writer, another autobiographical book</p>
<p>10.Anaïs Nin: The four-chambered heart</p>
<p>Description of a passionate love affair</p>
<p>11.Loriot: Herren im Bad und sechs andere dramatische Geschichten</p>
<p>Some of the funniest stories of the well-known German author and designer</p>
<p>12.Warum lesen? Warum nicht? (Diogenes Verlag)</p>
<p>To read or not to read? The pros and cons through sayings by famous people</p>
<p>13.Ricardo Macnack: Ein Surinamer in der DDR</p>
<p>From the exotic Surinam to the People’s Republic of Germany. The diary of a year in the life of Ricardo Macnack</p>
<p>14.Alain De Botton: A week at the airport</p>
<p>Alain De Botton spent a week at Heathrow observing the comings and goings of planes and people</p>
<p>15.W.S.Maugham: Books and you</p>
<p>The excellent author tells us which classical books he recommends</p>
<p>16.Jonas Jonasson: The girl who saved the king of Sweden</p>
<p>An African girl goes through a series of hilarious and dangerous adventures which bring her to Sweden</p>
<p>17.Töchter Afrikas (Piper Verlag) Anthologie Kurzgeschichten</p>
<p>An anthology of short stories written by daughters of Africa. Some very good texts by the best women authors who live in Africa or simply have roots in this continent</p>
<p>18.Μatthew Josafat: To marry or not to marry?</p>
<p>Τhe Greek psychoanalyst describes the seven psychological types of people and the marriage combinations among them</p>
<p>19.Alfred Sellner: Latein im Alltag</p>
<p>Latin sentences and terms which we’ve learnt at school and probably forgot</p>
<p>20.James Bowen: A street cat named Bob</p>
<p>A street musician finds a cat on his doorstep. The cat will become his friend and savior, and most of all his good luck</p>
<p>21.Charles M.Schulz:You're something special Snoopy</p>
<p>Classic adventures of the dog Snoopy and his friend Charlie Brown</p>
<p>LS</p>
</div>
Fri, 25 Sep 2015 13:09:17 +0000lavieenrose369 at https://travelswithmyblog.comhttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/books#commentsBerlin is too big for mehttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/berlin-too-big-me
<span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Berlin is too big for me</span>
<span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://travelswithmyblog.com/users/lavieenrose" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">lavieenrose</span></span>
<span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">9 August, 2015 - 14:32</span>
<section class="field field--name-comment-node-blog field--type-comment field--label-hidden comment-wrapper"></section><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>After having lived in a big capital almost all my life, I have acquired a taste for smaller places. </p>
<p>Thus I would not choose to live in Berlin, although I find it is a very interesting city.<br />
It has a lot of museums, which is important for me, and a lot of green parks and open spaces, which is important for everybody, I think. There is water all around and this is very pleasant, of course. </p>
<p>But still, although the population is not dense, I find that Berlin is too large for me, surface-wise. </p>
<p>I have visited it twice, both times very briefly and I have admired the beautiful buildings of Unter den Linden. I have also seen the ugly buildings of the Stalinist era. </p>
<p>The Palace of Charlottenburg with its gardens is a beautiful spot, the Brandenburg Gate is a must see for all tourists and the Tiergarten is a solution for hot summer days.</p>
<p>Berlin still looks like two separate cities because of the buildings and its history. But I guess it won't be so forever.</p>
</div>
Sun, 09 Aug 2015 11:32:43 +0000lavieenrose368 at https://travelswithmyblog.comhttps://travelswithmyblog.com/content/berlin-too-big-me#comments